Dear CCPC Family,

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..." and "Let not your hearts be troubled...," are among the most familiar and beloved words in all of Christendom. They are the first words learned by a child knee-high and the last to be spoken to those condemned to die. They are words that intrude upon the playing field in hand-lettered signs for the world to see, and they are written on the heart for the soul to remember. Once heard, they are words never to be forgotten.

God so loved the world that He gave His only Son
so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.

Do you remember when these words first found you? And was it not true for you, as for me, that before we could even speak them ourselves we heard them first speaking to us that we are loved as if there were none others loved by One Who in giving His all laid bare His heart for each one of us, One Who for the life of us came to set us free?

Let those words have their way with you this week. Use them as your own prayer to start the day or bring it to a close as you lay down to sleep:

God so loved the world that He gave His only Son
so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.
Such gift Your love for us is, O God, without cost, without measure,
the ground of our being, the wind that fills our sails with joy.
Let it have its way with us this day, leaving us a kinder, more gentle,
more loving person, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

-Donald Gordon Lewis Jr. Pastor